


Let's Fail Together

by oh_moomeo



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), F/F, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Study Group, this is pretty much just gonna be silly and fun bc i want it to be lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:48:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27428932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oh_moomeo/pseuds/oh_moomeo
Summary: Kokichi Ōma wanted to start a study group.“C’mon, Amami!” He pleaded. “I just wanna help my fellow students reach their full potential! Do the very best that they can! Ace all their classes! You believe me, don’t you?”Amami Rantarō did not believe Kokichi Ōma.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Shirogane Tsumugi, Amami Rantaro/Shinguji Korekiyo, Chabashira Tenko/Yumeno Himiko, Iruma Miu/K1-B0, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi, then these ones will be happening in the background!!
Comments: 5
Kudos: 29





	Let's Fail Together

**Author's Note:**

> Hihi!
> 
> This is my first ever NDRV3 fic and I had a lot of fun writing it :)
> 
> Just a note, I will primarily be using the Western order of names (e.g. Kokichi Ōma) **except** in dialogue. In dialogue I'll be following standard Japanese name conventions, minus honorifics (e.g. Ōma in most cases and Kokichi with close friends).

Kokichi Ōma wanted to start a study group.

“C’mon, Amami!” He pleaded. “I just wanna help my fellow students reach their full potential! Do the very best that they can! Ace all their classes! You believe me, don’t you?”

Amami Rantarō did not believe Kokichi Ōma. 

“Pleeeeeeeeease,” Kokichi whined. “No one’s gonna join if I ask but you’re all popular or whateverrrrr.” He flung his arms around Amami’s torso, staring up at the boy with the biggest puppy-dog eyes he could muster. “Don’t you trust me? Haven’t we been friends for years, Amami? Did all that mean nothing to you!?”

It was almost specifically because Amami had been friends with Kokichi for years that he did not trust him. Although he knew that Kokichi would never do something purposefully evil or malicious, Kokichi was still a grandmaster of chaos; a prankster who scarcely knew the meaning of backing down.

“I can’t believe this!” Kokichi sobbed. “My dearest Amami doesn’t love me after all…”

Rolling his eyes at the theatrics, Amami didn’t budge as Kokichi resorted to more drastic measures and pulled out the crocodile tears. “Kokichi,” Amami asked, bluntly. “Why do you _really_ want to start a study group?”

“B-because I have a duty to my fellow man to love and care and help when I can?” 

“Kokichi…”

“Because I’m being blackmailed by the mafia to help their heir apparent pass economics!”

“ _Kokichi._ ”

“Fine, fine,” Kokichi relented, throwing his hands up with a huff. “I’m just bored...and that’s _not_ a lie.”

Now that was more believable. Kokichi, the High King of Nonsense, detested little more than boredom. Amami had literally seen him snort sherbet because he had nothing better to do. Even so, Amami didn’t totally understand, “...But why a _study group_ , of all things?” 

“Hey! You’re asking too many questions,” Kokichi tutted. “Are you gonna help me or what?”

Amami pondered the question for a moment. The idea of Kokichi wanting to start up a study group was weird to him, but it was **not** outside of the realm of possibilities. And who was Kokichi, really, if he wasn’t being weird? He sighed, knowing that he had probably already made his mind up the first time that Kokichi had asked. When had being a knowing accomplice in Kokichi’s shenanigans ever stopped him before?

“...Sure.”

* * *

Six students sat around a table. 

It felt like the set-up to some big joke, the punchline of which Kokichi hadn’t come up with yet. Six students...six students...six students sat around a table and didn’t know what to say. Six students sat around a table and wondered if turning up was a big mistake. Six students sat around a table and tried to come up with six excuses to leave.

Kokichi knew some of them, recognized a few, and didn’t know one. Amami Rantarō was there, obviously, seated beside a bored looking Korekiyo Shingūji. Himiko Yumeno was sitting across from them, pointedly avoiding Kokichi’s gaze as she clearly pondered how badly she needed help studying. Then there was some blonde girl that Kokichi had never seen before seated directly next to the boy who Kokichi had stared at all last semester during their shared criminology lecture - Shūichi Saihara.

“Nishishishi!” Kokichi crowed as he clapped his hands together, “Now I bet you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here today.”

“I’m only here because Rantarō invited me…” Himiko interjected. “I wouldn’t have come if I’d known that _you_ would be here too.” Ah, good to know that she hadn’t forgiven him for the improvisation incident. To be fair, he wouldn’t have forgiven him either.

“Oh yeah?” He hummed, leaning back in his chair. “Why don’t you tell me more about it, Miss C-grade average?”

“W-Wha? You…” She trailed off, unable to call him out because he was absolutely correct.

“Hey, Kokichi,” Amami scolded, ever the responsible one. “Don’t be mean.”

“Ehhhh? Fine, fine,” Kokichi sighed. “I’m v-vewwy sowwy, Yumeno. I h-hwope yew cwan forgwive m-mwe.” He batted his eyelashes for extra effect.

“Geh-”

“Get on with it already,” Korekiyo complained, crossing his arms.

“So! Before I was so rudely interrupted so many times! As I was saying!” Kokichi exclaimed. “I, _out of the kindness of my heart_ , thought that I could help all of you plebs study. I’m a certified genius, you see, and I’m doing seven majors and twelve minors!”

“Isn’t...the maximum number of allowed majors three?” Shūichi wondered aloud.

God, the hot boy’s voice was even cuter when it wasn't reverberating off the walls of a too-large lecture theater and asking something boring about rehabilitation methods. Kokichi thanked the stars every day that Shūichi was Amami’s roommate and friend. 

“Yeah, they made that rule up because of me, don’t you know?” Kokichi grinned. “But it was too late, I’d already finished five majors and ten minors, they couldn’t take it back!”

“How...old are you?” The mystery girl asked, tapping her fingers across the table as if she were playing a silent melody.

“Thirty seven!”

“He’s seventeen,” Amami butted in, ruining Kokichi’s fun yet again. Kokichi huffed, annoyed that his lie had been exposed so quickly, but not that annoyed. It wasn’t like it was a serious or believable lie, after all.

For a few moments the girl said nothing, a confused expression evident on her face. “Um, ok…” she trailed off before continuing “Hey, look...why don’t we do some self introductions? Just the basics like our names, majors, minors, and a fun fact or something!? I only really know Shūichi and Rantarō here, I feel a little funny not even knowing anyone else’s names...”

Without skipping a beat, she launched straight into her own introduction. “My name is Akamatsu Kaede. I’m a music major but I’m also doing a minor in music therapy. I play the piano and my all-time favourite song is Clair De Lune. I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you!”

Peppy, confident, and leadership material; Kokichi had a feeling that he was going to find Kaede very interesting. They were definitely going to butt heads if this study group thing was going to continue and Kokichi couldn’t wait.

“Good idea, Akamatsu,” Amami grinned. “On the other hand, I know everybody here already but…” He chuckled almost awkwardly. Emphasis on almost because Amami was far too socially competent to ever really be awkward, something that Kokichi had admired in him since the beginning. “My name is Rantarō Amami. I’m doing a double major in cultural anthropology and geography, with a minor in linguistics,” he continued. “A fun fact about me is...I have twelve sisters and they all live in different countries.”

Amami’s fun fact left most of the table in a surprised silence, but Kokichi and Korekiyo were wholly unaffected. They’d both spent more than enough time around Amami to hear the boy affectionately spiel on about each and every girl too many times for either of them to count.

“T-Twelve?” Himiko stuttered in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Amami smiled with a shrug. “What can I say, my dad was a bit of a playboy.” Amami may have been smiling but Kokichi and Korekiyo knew that it was just a front. His feelings towards his father were...complicated. “But that’s enough about me!” Amami exclaimed, “Let’s keep this ball rolling, Korekiyo?”

“Kehe...I suppose I can go next,” Korekiyo relented. “I am Shingūji Korekiyo. My majors are cultural anthropology and linguistics and I am minoring in sociology.” He paused for a moment, a brief flash of nervousness hitting him until he looked over at Amami and was met with a reassuring smile. “...My favourite myth is Medusa, but I truly do not have the time to explain to you all now...it would not do it justice to summarise it in such a small amount of time…”

“Eh, Medusa? Shingūji you’ll have to tell me more about her!” Kaede exclaimed. “I’m doing a Classics class this semester on Greek mythology and I am _not_ doing very well.”

“Yes…” Korekiyo trailed off. “I suppose I can tell you more...later…”

Butting in, as he was often want to do, Kokichi shot up out of his chair. “Now, who you’ve all been waiting for!” He announced. “You peasants are lucky to be in the presence of Ōma Kokichi, crown prince of Monaco! Bow before me or my loyal henchmen will have you poisoned!”

“Kokichi…” Amami sighed. “You didn’t even say what majors or minors you’re doing.”

“Why, my dearest Amami, that would ruin the fun!”

“H-He’s doing theater!” Himiko shouted, pointing her finger at Kokichi accusatorily. “We’re...we’re in some of the same classes…”

“Liar!” Kokichi accused, slamming his hands down onto the table much more aggressively than he needed to. “She’s lying! Yumeno loves to lie, don’t you guys know? She’s a big, ugly liar!”

“W-What? No I don’t I...ugh,” She groaned, slumping forward with her head in her hands. “I’m Yumeno Himiko, I’m majoring in theatre, and I **hate** Ōma Kokichi.”

“S-so cruel...you’re so cruel to me…” Kokichi whined, before bursting into loud and obviously fake tears. “Waaaaah! Amami! Make her stop!”

“S-So...I guess that just leaves me, then?” Shūichi interrupted awkwardly in his stupidly pretty voice. “My name is Shūichi Saihara. I’m majoring in criminal law and psychology and doing a minor in criminology. A fun fact about me is, um…”

Kokichi waited with baited breath, brimming with nervous energy as he waited for a little morsel of personal information from the boy who had held his attention for an entire semester already. He couldn’t help but come up with all sorts of interesting answers that Shūichi could spill; he’d been working undercover in the Yakuza and had barely gotten away with his life, he’d been held hostage by a world-famous thief and had to learn how to dismantle a bomb on the fly, he’d wrestled with an alligator and won!

“Er…” Shūichi continued, clearly becoming more distressed as more time passed. “I-I…”

Maybe Shūichi was secretly a superhero with telekinesis powers, a prince from a foreign country who had been sent abroad to study among the common folk, an alien from a far-away galaxy with the express mission to gather as much information about humankind as possible.

“I...prefer coffee over tea,” He finished, lamely. “S-Sorry, I couldn’t think of anything interesting.”

Now this was true disappointment. Real despairing disappointment. Like, who even _enjoyed_ coffee? Kokichi had been convinced that nobody actually liked the bitter beverage, only using it to fend off sleep deprivation as they desperately worked on an assignment they’d ignored for a month. He wasn’t much for tea either, but at least tea could be sweet and could come in a wide range of flavours.

“Hey, hey,” Kaede reassured him, patting him on the back. “It’s okay! You’re plenty interesting, Shūichi, you’re just not good at being put on the spot.”

“Hhhh,” Shūichi groaned, looking as if he wanted to be anywhere but here. Kokichi could relate, but only in that the anywhere that he wanted to be was in Kaede’s place, touching Shūichi’s back. He had it bad and he was more than willing to admit that.

“Okay, okay!” Kokichi clapped, deciding not to linger on that thought for too long. “ _Boring_ introductions aside, why don’t we do some work? I loooooove studying, it’s the funnest fun thing to ever fun!” Total lie. Kokichi Ōma hated studying. “Yumeno, you’ve got lines you gotta learn, right? You should practice with Akamatsu, it’s not like she can practice her piano here.”

“That’s a great idea, Ōma!” Kaede smiled. “I would love to help you memorise your lines, Yumeno. I’ve been working a lot on memorizing pieces recently, I’d love to show you some techniques if you need it?”

“N-nyeh…” Himiko muttered. “...fine, but only because it _is_ a good idea…”

Standing up and dragging her seat over, Kaede excitedly began to babble away at an unenthusiastic looking Himiko. The latter let out a yawn as she rifled through her backpack for her script. Kokichi would feel sorry for Himiko if he didn’t find their extreme difference in energy levels rip-roaringly amusing.

“Hey, Korekiyo,” Amami piped up, nudging the boy with his elbow. “Do you want to go over today’s lecture notes? Aha, I wasn’t really paying attention today, so I could use your help.”

“How could you not?” Korekiyo asked, shocked. “Today’s discussion about the different division of the Chukchi clans was absolutely fascinating. Truly not enough people engage in an interest in indigenous and obscure cultures…”

“Sorry, sorry,” Amami apologised, hands raised. “I was on the phone with Aika last night and you know she’s living in London now. Time zones are _hard_.” Yeah, of course Amami was up all night talking to one of his sisters. Hardly a night went by without him on the phone with at least one of them; a feat that was incredibly easy given that he had twelve sisters.

“Agreed,” Korekiyo nodded. “I suppose I can let it slide this time.”

“Hey, hey Shūichi! That just leaves me and you, huh?” Kokichi grinned, leaving his seat to slide over to the nervous boy. Oh, Kokichi truly could not believe his luck. First his dumb gay crush turns up to his study group and now they’re basically _forced_ to work together? The only way for this to get any better was if a bottle of Panta materialized in his hand when he blinked. 

Kokichi looked at his hand, disappointed to see it empty.

Shūichi on the other hand did not look like he was feeling lucky. He scanned the table, sending a pleading look after Kaede’s back but the girl was far too busy getting **too** into her role. “...Yeah, I guess so,” He said reluctantly. “I guess we could...work on crim together?”

“Nee-heehee, if you insist!” Kokichi winked playfully. 

“I didn’t…” Shūichi lamented as he pulled his books out of his bag.

“Lemme see your notes, Saihara!” Kokichi didn’t wait for a response and immediately yanked the exercise book from Shūichi’s hands. “Woooooow, you have such pretty handwriting. That’s totally unexpected, I thought you’d have **ugly** chicken scratch writing...NOT!”

“H-Hey, give that back!” 

“Nuh uh, not gonna,” Kokichi teased, lifting the book out of Shūichi’s reaching hands. “Here, you can have mine instead.” Tossing his own book in front of Shūichi, Kokichi flipped through Shūichi’s book. 

Their notes couldn’t be any more different. Shūichi’s were neat, tidy, and comprehensive; each page painstakingly organised with ruled lines and colour coding. Every page was dated and every lecture numbered and titled. With notes like these, Kokichi was beginning to understand why Shūichi’s face always wore a permanent expression of concentration in class, his brow furrowed as he shook out the pain in his wrist every fifteen minutes.

On the other hand, as Shūichi was currently finding out, Kokichi’s notes were barely notes at all. In the beginning he’d toyed with the idea of note-taking, a few important details scattered about the pages written in purple glitter pen, but Kokichi had clearly quickly abandoned that notion. Instead his book was filled with silly doodles - a group of mischievous clowns drawn over a half-written sentence about prisons, crude caricatures of the lecturer in boxers, and endless drawings of Kokichi himself in intricate crowns.

“Wha- do you even pay attention in class?” Shūichi asked, even though he clearly already knew the answer.

“Of course!” Kokichi answered enthusiastically. “That’s why I write such detailed notes, don’t you know?”

“There’s...there’s barely anything in here!” He exclaimed, his voice raising in disbelief. “Are you even passing?”

Now that earned him a slightly irritated huff from Kokichi. “Well, _duh_ , of course I’m passing,” He rolled his eyes, speaking truthfully for once. “I’d write more notes if I actually had to but it’s just so easy, don’t you think?”

“ _Easy!?_ ”

“Yeah, easy,” Kokichi doubled down. “I mean, for a criminal mastermind like me this kinda stuff just comes second nature! I don’t need to study criminal psychology or profiles, I already know how I think.” He laughed, more sinisterly than he had before. “You should be careful, Saihara. With my help you could get perfect grades but...is it worth risking your life? I might have to kill you, in the end.”

Shūichi squinted at him and Kokichi felt as if he was looking right through him. Staring straight past his bulky, checkered jacket, straight through his smirk, straight through his skin, straight through his lies, straight through his heart. Kokichi didn’t feel this naked even when he was naked. He opened his mouth to come up with some kind of teasing retort about nudity but his mind was running blank, so he said nothing.

Shūichi Saihara stared at Kokichi Ōma and Kokichi Ōma stared at Shūichi Saihara. 

“You know, Ōma,” Shūichi said, breaking the silence between them. “I think that was a lie.”

“Oh yeah?” Kokichi challenged, throwing his arms behind his head and leaning back casually in his seat. “What do you know, mister detective? Enlighten me.”

A beat of silence passed before Shūichi spoke up again. “You’re a liar, not a criminal,” He deduced, speaking with more confidence than Kokichi had thought possible of the sexy nervous wreck. “I think you like to play pranks and cause chaos, but I don’t think you’re dangerous. I wouldn’t trust you with my exercise book,” He said as he slid the book out of Kokichi’s weakening grasp, “But I...would trust you not to hurt me. O-On purpose, I mean.”

For too many times today Kokichi had found himself speechless and right now was no exception. He couldn’t even keep up his trademark nonchalance, his face slipping into neutral territory as his mind whirred away and he tried desperately to understand how Shūichi had managed to see through him so easily.

Kokichi wasn’t used to being understood, wasn’t used to being analysed, wasn’t used to being...trusted. Only one person had ever even **tried** , but that had taken months of exhausted dredging through Kokichi’s swamp of lies. Shūichi Saihara had only taken about five minutes to wade right through the muck.

“S-Sorry, that was quite...presumptuous of me, wasn’t it?” Shūichi apologised, his anxiety clearly coming back with full force as all traces of his previous confidence disappeared.

The tension between them snapped with those uncertain words and Kokichi swung forward on his chair. “Mhmm,” He hummed. “You should be more careful with who you trust, Saihara.” Stretching out lazily across the table, Kokichi peered at the boy through a mess of purple hair. 

“But you’re right,” He conceded. “I won’t kill you... _yet_.”

* * *

“So...Saihara, right?” Amami grinned, walking beside Kokichi on their trek back to the dorms.

Kokichi gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his backpack straps. Amami had an annoying knack for sniffing out even the faintest traces of romantic intent; regardless of whether the person themselves were even aware of their own feelings. “Literally shut up,” he grumbled. “It’s _not_ like that, okay?”

“Yeah, ‘cause you’re not a compulsive liar or anything, right?” Amami bit back. “Aren’t you glad I invited him?”

That didn’t deserve a response.

“Hmmm, still. I think it went well,” He continued, wholly unphased by Kokichi’s silence. “Even if we aren’t doing the same subjects, it’s nice to be in the same room as other people who are also there to study. Really helps build the studious atmosphere.”

“Yeah well you’ve got your precious Shingūji,” Kokichi retorted. “I’ve only got stupid Saihara and even stupider Yumeno. Maybe starting this study group was a waste of time.”

“You don’t really think that,” Amami said, **annoyingly** hitting the nail right on the head. “Otherwise you would’ve protested when Akamatsu suggested we meet again same time next week.”

Kokichi had been surprised when Kaede had spoken up and suggested the continuation of their study group. He might’ve dared to have the tiniest sliver of hope that someone would want to do it again, but he hadn’t expected it to be her. Most of what she did seemed to require a piano, something that was not possible if they were going to continue using one of the conference rooms in the library; she probably had the least to gain out of them all, academically at least.

If Kokichi had been surprised when Kaede spoke up, he was even more surprised when everybody else agreed. Amami and Korekiyo were a given, the former being Kokichi’s closest friend and the latter usually trailing along with him. Himiko was unexpected but Kokichi was fully aware that she hadn’t been doing very well in class, not that she lacked potential in any way, more like she lacked motivation. But Shūichi was the one that had taken Kokichi aback the most - Kokichi had thought that he’d annoyed Shūichi enough for him to want to leave and never come back, completely wash his hands of everything and anything even remotely related to Kokichi Ōma.

But clearly Kokichi didn’t understand Shūichi as well as Shūichi seemed to understand him.

“Ohohoho, speechless now are we?” Amami teased.

“What did I say!?” Kokichi shouted, running at Amami and shoving him playfully with a massive grin on his face, “About literally shutting up!?”

* * *

**[ Server Name: Dinguses In Crime Everyday ]**

Uno: h-hewwo??? is anybwody dere? owO

spades: literally die

Joker: OWO NYELLO

Ace: Boss, remind me again why the fuck your name is Uno?

Uno: bc im playing a whole ‘nother game than u plebs ;3c

King: :0

Jack: :0

♦️ DIAMONDS: :0

Joker: ;3c

Ace: I hate you.

Uno: <3

Ace: ...

Ace: <3

Qween: ok im home

Qween: i just had THE WORST day at work ever

King: I told you not to get a job in retail but noooooo~ ‘i have to pay rent’ you said

Qween: i was a fool

Qween: a young naive fool

Qween: lemme just crack open my wine i need it

Clubs: Spoken like a true student.

spades: or alcoholic

Clubs: What’s the difference?

Joker: one has crushing debt and the other has crushing debt and a 3k essay due on the weekend

Jack: @Queen make sure you drink some water too!!!!

Queen: yeah yeah ok mom

Ace: Does anyone know where Hearts is? 

Qween: prolly making out wit her new gf, i think her name is carmen or smthin

King: Ohohoho, a foreigner?? SpiCYyyy~

♦️ DIAMONDS: God i wish that were me

King: What, making out wit hearts?? Whatever happened to dont screw the crew smh

♦️ DIAMONDS: Ew no, i mean i want a hot foreign gf 

Qween: mood

Uno: @Hearts u have 5 mins to come online or im gonna kick u

Hearts: :(

King: There she is!!! The woman of the hour!!!

Hearts: give me a sec, ive got a boob in one hand

Ace: HEARTS, WHY!?

♦️ DIAMONDS: Way to rub it in 

Qween: its ok diamonds weve got wine to numb the pain

♦️ DIAMONDS: :’(

spades: c

spades: like i said

spades: alcoholic

Qween: S H U T

Clubs: Hey guys I’m sorry but I have an essay due tonight, can we make this a quick catch up? :(

King: LAME but yea ofc <3

Uno: <3

Qween: <3

Jack: <3

Ace: <3

♦️ DIAMONDS: <3

spades: <3

Hearts: <3

Joker: <3

Clubs: :’) Thank you guys <3

Uno: ok enough of this sappy shit im gonna talk about me now

♦️ DIAMONDS: hey! that’s my line!

Uno: git gud

Joker: gotta go fast, nyaaaa~

♦️ DIAMONDS: T_T 

Uno: anyway

Uno: didnt do much this week lol

spades: y did u wanna go first then

Uno: started a study group tho

Uno: NO INTERRUPTING!!!

Uno: they were so impressed by my genius they all laid down at my feet and praised me as a god

Qween: as they should

Uno: <.<

Qween: sorry lol

Uno: ur pardoned this time, im done anyway

Hearts: were any of them hot?

♦️ DIAMONDS: ohoho?

Joker: ;3c

Uno: …

King: WELL?

Qween: ANSWER THE QUESTION!!!

Ace: @uno

Clubs: @uno

spades: @uno

Jack: Guys...he’s gone offline…

Qween: COWARD

Spades: well i think we have our answer then

**Author's Note:**

> Nyello, I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Most of the characters are similar to what they are in canon but with some changes. If you have any questions about these changes please ask! Also please please lemme know if there's anything you liked or think that I can improve on.
> 
> Fingers crossed I can update this every fortnight but to be honest, I'm not gonna make any promises. I can say, though, that I will definitely finish this at some point in time!!!
> 
>  **Edit 16/11/20** : Just realized I accidentally got Korekiyo's first and last names mixed up so I've just gone through and fixed that!


End file.
